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Apple unveils new SDK and Swift programming language

The latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 8, was unveiled at WWDC today promising new features for developers, thanks to a brand new SDK.

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Apple pointed out that it has made a number of changes to the App Store, which attracts 300 million visitors each week. Changes have been made to make it easier to navigate and to improve discoverability. There is now an explore tab, continuous scrolling results, related searches, trending searches and an editor's choice logo.

Developers can also now create app bundles -- an apparently much-requested feature -- so users will be able to buy multiple apps at a discounted price with just one tap. Apple is introducing app previews, allowing developers to create videos to give users a better idea of what they're downloading. TestFlight will also let developers invite users to beta test their apps through the App Store for free.

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Apple showed off its new software development kit with more than 4,000 new APIs, which Tim Cook described as "the biggest release since the launch of the App Store". The first major feature of the SDK is something Apple is calling Extensibility. Through this, apps from the App Store will be able to extend services to other apps.

It will be built on the existing sandbox security model and will let developers create extensions within their sandbox that can be utilised by other apps. An example of how this might work in practice is that users might be able to access different photo-editing apps from within the iOS photos app, with that application's interface overlaid on top of the iOS app.

Another major new feature allows developers to bring customised third-party keyboards into their sandboxes. Third-party apps will also now be able to define widgets, which will appear in the Notification Centre.

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The camera and PhotoKit API has been overhauled, and for developers that need to add in web components, Apple is simplifying the process of app creation with a feature called CloudKit. As expected, Apple is finally taking home automation seriously by bringing a common network protocol with secure pairing to developers via HomeKit, and is also encouraging developers to take advantage of the newly created HealthKit.

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Designed specifically for Apple's A7 processor the company has replaced its OpenGL graphics technology -- used for high-end gaming -- with Metal graphics processing, which has direct access to the GPU and promises over 10x faster draw call rates. SpriteKit -- for creating casual games -- has also been updated with light forces, field forces, per-pixel physics and inverse kinematics, and is now complemented by SceneKit, which makes it easier to create 3D games.

Xcode is one of the most popular pro apps on the Apple platform and is used to create apps both for Mac and iOS. It now uses a brand new programming language called Swift, after ditching Objective-C. Swift is supposedly far more efficient, simple, interactive, safe and reliable, and can also co-exist with Objective-C code, so that developers can integrate it into existing apps.

The iOS 8 beta software, SDK and a beta version of Swift are all available immediately for members of the iOS and OS X Developer Programs.